A Study of the Political and Security Implications of Taliban’s Rise to Power for the Border Regions of the Islamic Republic of Iran: A Copenhagen School Perspective

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Graduated from Shahid Beheshti University of Political Science in Tehran and a strategic researcher of governmental institutions

10.22081/psq.2024.66971.2813

Abstract

Along with the Taliban’s rise to power, a set of direct and indirect impacts on the security and political aspects of Iran’s border regions has occurred. Considering the current political and discursive developments of the Taliban in Afghanistan, the present study examines the potential and actual implications of the Taliban’s rise to power on Iran’s border regions. The main question of the research is: based on the Copenhagen School theory, what are the potential political and security implications of the Taliban’s rise to power for Iran’s border regions? Using a descriptive-analytic method, this study shows that Iran’s border regions are and will be affected by the change of governance in Afghanistan concerning potential and actual variables and factors. The governance indicators of the Taliban have the potential for discursive dissemination and spread to Iranian borders. This can occur in terms of identity, Talibanization, and Pashtunization. At objective levels, too, along with the spread and development of terrorist movements within the Taliban’s realm in Pakistan and Afghanistan, there is an increasing possibility of recruiting soldiers and providing military training to certain ethnically and religiously marginalized Iranian individuals in those regions. On the other hand, border conflicts between Taliban forces and Iranian border keepers are a major issue that should be considered, along with the issue of Afghan migration to Iran. Another significant variable is the issue of drug smuggling.

Keywords

References

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Political Science
Volume 26, Issue 4 - Serial Number 106
November 2023
Pages 215-257

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